Home
by LunaStellaCat
Summary: Minerva McGonagall finds home. Written for HSWW Assignment 4 Task 1. Thanks for reading. All reviews and critiques would be awesome.


Beta: DobbyRocksSocks (Bex). If this makes any sense whatsoever, it's thanks to her.

Dedication: To a fellow friend with cerebral palsy, who reminds me it doesn't matter how we get there. And a certain professor to introduced me to linguistics.

Subject: Care of Magical Creatures

Task 1: Write about someone with a strong sense of loyalty.

Task: TGS Ash Wednesday, Strove Tuesday c. of Flour

"Home"

She told him to pick a date and make all the arrangements; it boiled down to reciting some words and signing over their lives with signatures. No invitations went out. A long standing joke within their circle of friends, this marriage could've happened at least twenty years ago, yet she kept saying no. Elphinstone probably got some secret satisfaction asking her the same question over and over again.

When he dragged her out of bed on a rainy Sunday morning, she thought he merely wanted her around for company while running errands. She seriously thought he was pulling her leg when he casually threw out a suggestion about tying the knot, as thought he suggested they go to the market. Lawyers rarely found humor in these things, a fact she should've remembered since she worked amongst them once upon a time.

Elphinstone turned to Minerva politely, which did nothing to quell her anger. She snapped. "Be quiet."

Elphinstone followed this instruction to the letter, irking Minerva, for he somehow pressed her buttons like nobody else, so Minerva settled for silence.

Elphinstone and Minerva had announced their engagement last summer, and things had gone along quite smoothly until people started talking. Apparently, there were people who took issue with her not taking Elphinstone's name. He laughed this off, of course, but she had not seen this coming down the road. "Elphinstone, if this is because of what that woman said in the paper…I can't give you children."

Elphinstone said nothing.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "You may speak now."

"Thank you. I have a son," said Elphinstone quietly and patiently, checking the time as they waited in the deserted Atrium. The old man let everything roll of his shoulders like the world couldn't possibly phase him. It made him a very good attorney.

Elphinstone beamed when Joshua walked into the place talking animatedly with his hands. Deaf from birth, Joshua opted to live as a Squib as a small child. At twenty-three, they young man looked very much like his father, often reminding Minerva of how Elphinstone looked when she laid eyes on him way back in 1954, with his curly blonde locks and his green eyes. He got the crinkly-eyed smile from his father, too, although Joshua lived his life as he pleased and operated by a different clock. Elphinstone's hair had turned white and his face appeared more lined, but he retained his youthful spirit.

Eric, the bored security wizard, looked harassed and a little miffed his job would prove a challenge.

"He's mine," said Elphinstone, switching into sign language flawlessly as he cleared things up.

Eric surrendered without a fight and leafed through his edition of the Sunday Prophet and picked up where he left off on the crossword. Joshua hugged his father and relayed why he'd been late, or so Minerva guessed because this could've been Mermish for all she knew.

Elphinstone tapped his watch, speaking again. "A quarter after nine isn't nine, Joss. Close enough doesn't exist for a lawyer."

Joshua answered, a smirk spreading across his face.

"He says nobody heads to a law office on a Sunday." Elphinstone nudged Minerva as Joshua embraced her like an old friend.

"That's what I said. Hello, Joshua." Minerva learned with time to pause and speak slower to relay a message.

She picked up things here and there, usually from Elphinstone, so she signed basic sentences like a toddler; Joshua's name sign, assigned to him by a fisherman in the Deaf community when he a small boy as Elphinstone slowly pieced together British Sign Language as the letter "J" followed by the sign for "light". Joshua worked as an interpreter for a handful of precincts in the city.

"How are you?" Minerva asked.

"Tired. Last night, I got pulled into three interrogations and got in an argument with Sherlock Holmes. Fucking fool." Elphinstone stopped here, roaring with laughter as he put Joshua on pause and he turned to fill Minerva in. Elphinstone cursed all the time. These were, in his view, simply sentence enhancers, and he often had to watch himself with the Hogwarts students. Minerva raised her eyebrows, intrigued. "Sherlock Holmes is a reference to a collection of Muggle detective stories. This man, Ned, imagines himself something of an expert, but he doesn't know his ass from his elbow. Joss attends university and studies law."

"I remember," said Minerva, patting Joshua on the arm as Elphinstone went back to acting as the in-between. "Are we going to use this education, Mr. Urquart?"

"Maybe. I dunno. I need to pick a speciality. Choices. Ah, there's the look. Please excuse my father as he lectures me… again. Like I haven't heard this before. Here we go." Elphinstone frowned, his brow furrowing as Joshua shrugged this off. "For Christ's sake, Joss, pick one! Estates, criminal law, property law, family law. Would it kill you to make a decision?"

"Elphinstone," said Minerva, regretting using this as a conversation starter.

Looping her arm through her fiance's, crippling him on purpose, she steered him towards the lift, Joshua following close behind, crestfallen. They were a half hour late and Elphinstone, still trying to press his argument one-handed, though there was no point. He seemed to temporarily forget why they'd arrived here in the first place as his son, leaning against the wall, held his tongue. Joshua got stuck in his sullen behavior as he read her lips.

Minerva offered Joshua an apology. "I'm sorry."

Joshua waved this away.

"I chose estates last term. Are we happy now, old man?" Elphinstone, elated, beamed as Joshua repeated himself so he got it.

"Don't lie to me, boy."

Joshua shook his head.

Elphinstone clapped his hands as if Christmas came early this year. Elphinstone practiced both estates law and real estate, and he'd become a wealthy man because this decision. When he walked away from the Ministry for Magic last year after nearly a half century of dedicated civil service, he offered to continue to pay for Joshua's post-secondary schooling.

His anger evaporated, Elphinstone whistled as he danced on the balls of his feet and walked onto the second level like he owned the place. "You were always my favorite. I'll consider putting you back in the will."

Joshua, affronted, sped up whatever he needed to say.

"Kidding." Elphinstone enjoyed this joke because Joshua, gullible, always took the bait.

Minerva smiled. Elphinstone placed his wand on a set of brass scales. They vibrated, operating like the security check.

"Urquart, Elphinstone: Wills, trusts, and estates," said a cool female voice.

"Thank you," said Elphinstone, stowing his wand away in his back pocket of his jeans. He sounded doubtful, answering this almost like a question. He continued along, stopping outside Amelia Bones office. She wore casual clothing, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. Elphinstone jerked his thumb towards the entrance, resting his other hand on the doorframe. "Why does Sarah still recognize me?"

"Who?" Amelia placed folder on a stack of files. She waved at Joshua and Minerva, completely surprising both of them when she started signing out of nowhere. She caught on. "Sarah. I keep telling you the system can't hold a gender."

"Benjy called her Sarah," said Elphinstone. He sat down and read the document upside down. "What are we working on?"

"A complaint. And we, Mr. Urquart, aren't working on anything, as we, or at least one of us, no longer practices law." Amelia crossed something out with her quill and set her work aside and smiled at him.

"The student puts the teacher in his place. What's this?" Elphinstone raised his eyebrows as Minerva reached over him to shake Amelia's hand. Joshua laughed, a guttural uneven sound. Elphinstone pointed out an error in her document and underlined it with Amelia's quill. "You might want to rephrase this, but what does a peon like me know? How long have you been reading this?"

"An hour." Amelia let Elphinstone edit and initial the document, referencing cases off the top of his head like he read off ingredients for a recipe. "You're like a walking Corpus Jurisprudence. We might have … I don't know … forgotten to remove you from the system? Yeah. Let's go with that."

"Amelia," sighed Elphinstone.

Minerva stood up. "You're walking a fine line here."

"Mr. Crouch is an idiot. You told me to be extraordinary and you leave me with this?" Amelia gestured at the door. "You let Barty Crouch throw you out. You won't say it because - well, because you're you - but he edged you out. And I think you let him, Mr. Urquart."

Elphinstone spread his hands and said nothing for nor against this. Minerva opened her mouth, changed her mind, and rested her hands on Elphinstone's shoulders. She held all of two years to hold for any weak defense, and she knew Elphinstone more as a friend than a lawyer. It often proved a difficult task to separate the two. Amelia, annoyed, sat on her desk and turned to stare her friend and mentor down. If she lost this fight, she might as well have her say. Elphinstone asked Joshua to step out for a moment and ventured towards the law library.

"You're not angry with him," said Minerva, closing the door and resting her hand on the handle. Amelia tapped her foot, pretending to read through her trial preparations. Minerva took Elphinstone's chair. A photograph of Benjy holding a small boy outside of a bookshop lay precariously on top of a stack of research. She lowered her voice, her voice shaking slightly. "When he received that black box with … Benjy … none of you did anything. Elphinstone trained me, you, Benjamin, Isaiah and Edgar. He laid the foundation, and he didn't kill Benjamin. You're angry with yourself. You hate Benjy for leaving you."

"I don't …" Amelia's voice caught in her throat.

"It's all right. I am not blaming you. You deserve … it is perfectly fine to despise him. I miss him. And Elphinstone? He loved Benjy like a second son." Minerva shook her head. She paced the room, thinking this through carefully. "I chose not to attend the funeral because I … I wanted to hit him. I hated him."

Amelia sniffed, holding her tongue.

"You are not alone. It feels like it, but you've got that man in your corner. I don't know if it means anything, but you know you've got me." Minerva placed one foot in front of the other, walking a straight line. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"He's supposed to be here," said Amelia, taking the handkerchief Minerva offered her. She blew her nose and conjured a box. She laughed softly, drumming her fingers on the lid. "This is for you … Benjy bought it off a Parisian when he swore you'd finally give into Elphinstone."

Minerva took the gift, finding an emerald green brooch inside. She took it out, sitting down again, and found an inscription written in Benjy's hand. "It's written in Gaelic."

"One moment." Amelia lifted a finger, putting her on pause, and raised her voice as Elphinstone passed by with his son. "If only we had a Scottish gentleman to solve a puzzle…"

"She pulled this on me during a trial," said Elphinstone conversationally, taking a pair old-fashioned spectacles without the frames, and balanced these on his nose. His tongue deepened with a Brogue Elphinstone often tried to bury as he passed himself as a Londoner.

"*Neach-gaoil. It means beloved or sweetheart, a term of endearment," said Elphinstone, fixing the clasp as he helped Minerva put it on. He kissed her neck, brushing loose strands away. Minerva flushed with color, uncomfortable with a public display of affection. He lowered his voice, whispering in her ear. "I asked Benjy to write this because he wrote with a steadier hand, but I thought it best to leave it with him for safekeeping. I do love your neck."

"You've told me." Minerva turned away from Joshua, embarrassed when Elphinstone mentioned he purchased a bed as a wedding gift. "Sir, you speak with a reverend's daughter…"

"Mmmm hmmm." Elphinstone knew only she could hear him. "We'll let your father think you haven't shared a bed with me for fifteen years. You're thinking about me, aren't you?"

"Yes," breathed Minerva.

"Oh, we are going to have a time, Professor," laughed Elphinstone, clapping his hands together as turned to address the others. Amelia found a volume and leafed through it. He stopped her. "We're one short, Madam Bones. Where's my second witness?"

"It's Sunday. Give me a moment." Amelia went to grab someone and returned a few minutes later with Eric. She filled him in hastily, saying all he had to do was stand there and sign a document. Eric nodded and went to stand beside Joshua Amelia preferred getting her way and she usually whatever she wanted. She took out her wand, tapped her desk and checked the licenses. "Are we good?"

"Wait. I … I haven't got a ring." Minerva checked her pockets, though she knew she'd left her father's band with a jeweler in Hogsmeade. Amelia read from the Scripture, a nod to Minerva's father before she changed to the expected lines. "Spontaneity doesn't agree with me because I always forget things. Who runs off and gets married?"

"Your parents?" Elphinstone fished for an answer.

"Elphinstone. You really want to go there right now?" Minerva snapped, taking a bouquet of flowers Eric conjured. Elphinstone thanked him, pleasantly surprised, saying he had not thought of the man as a romantic. "I haven't got any vows."

"Stop. Stop. This is just you and me." Elphinstone placed a hand underneath her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. "What do you wish to tell me?"

"You're supposed to go first," said Minerva, her words sharper than she intended. Amelia lost composure and burst out laughing alongside the others. Minerva sighed, holding the flowers to her side. "We are awful people."

"I practically begged Joss's mother to marry me because of a one night stand." Elphinstone winced, signing with Joshua. Joshua, who heard this story a hundred times, couldn't care less. "I love you. But you were a mistake."

Minerva recognized the word Joshua signed: bastard. "You don't ever say that in my presence again."

Joshua asked why. Amelia stood in as the interpreter, and she rested her hand momentarily on the battered book, touched.

"My father once told me God doesn't make mistakes for us to fix them. It us from our mistakes and our second chances we learn to live. You are a gift." Minerva nodded to Amelia and walked over to kiss Joshua on the cheek. She signed this, following Elphinstone and butchering whatever she said with a slew of mistakes. "You give a voice to those to have none. You are my family. And I love you, Joshua."

"I love you, too," said Amelia, speaking for Joshua and wiping something from her eye.

Minerva smiled, turning back to Elphinstone. A romantic who wore his heart on his sleeve, he sounded as though he rehearsed this bit, and Minerva admitted she felt like a blundering fool after such a confession. How could she hold a candle to what an eloquent orator prepared?

"You know what this is between us," she said simply, rubbing the silver band nervously with her thumb. Elphinstone nodded. "Do you need me to tell you? You live and breathe in me, and I believe it's because of you that I know what love is. I wrote it all down on a napkin in the Three Broomsticks…"

Elphinstone stopped her, taking her into his arms and kissing her passionately. Minerva, surprised, caught her breath, and kissed him back as she ran her fingers through his white hair. The flowers fell onto the floor. Elphinstone switched to Gaelic, saying words she didn't understand.

Eric left after they signed the paperwork. Minerva found a copy of the other day's paper and tore it in half and then again in fourths and eighths before tossing it into the flames of Amelia's fire. Elphinstone explained the cruel commentary to Joshua and Amelia, nodding at Minerva when she washed her hands of the whole thing.

Later that afternoon after brunch with Joshua, Elphinstone walked with her through the streets of Hogsmeade. Minerva asked where they were going, insisting they abandoned Joshua back in London. Elphinstone, only half listening to her, checked for a set of keys in a secret space above the doorway. He picked her up after he managed to opened the door after ramming his shoulder into it.

"Are you all right? You need to put me down." Minerva cared nothing for tradition, and she wondered who bothered to affix the horseshoe onto the door. It was a sign of luck in a marriage, an old Scottish tradition. Elphinstone grunted. "You are going to throw your back out. Put me down!"

"I'm going to fix the door," he muttered, heaving her unceremoniously onto an expensive leather couch like a stack of potatoes. Minerva lost her spectacles, which meant he rendered her blind. "Sorry. Can you even see me?"

"No." She found his lips, insistent, and unbuttoned his shirt.

"Oh. There's a lot more this place. It foreclosed a couple years ago." Elphinstone rattled on like a real estate agent, and knew a lot of those. "That's not a problem? I mean, the kitchen needs a lot of work. There was a rat in the basin."

"A rat? Elphinstone." Minerva sat up straight and found her spectacles on the floor. "We don't do rats. No fleas. Running water."

"No rats, no fleas, the master bathroom is beautiful. The bones? Look up." Elphinstone promised, crossing his heart as he pointed out the ceiling beams. "Those are original. Oh, and let me show you this."

"You decorated it?" Minerva ran her hand along a writing desk she'd seen at Elphinstone's place in London. She let him drag her along, and she pointed out the Mackintosh hanging on one of the pegs by the door. Her emerald green traveling cloak, a gift, hung beside it. "Well, this is your home. Where are your father's journals?"

"There." Elphinstone pointed her towards a small bedroom, an office where books organized themselves and her research papers stacked themselves on a polished desk. "I may or may not have stolen a collection of law volumes from the Ministry."

"Elphinstone Francis!"

"What the hell were they going to do with them? And you know I hate when you call me that," said Elphinstone, not caring about consequences. "Edgar might have indefinitely placed those on loan. I asked for the older edition and Mr. Crouch said no."

Minerva narrowed her eyes. "So you stole them? An expert on property law. That's illegal."

"Mmm hmmm." Elphinstone showed her the rest of thea place, pleased she immediately fell in love with it. "Your home."

"I've never had a home before." She grew up in the manse, of course, but the church owned the property, and although she'd lived briefly in a rundown London flat, the place never felt like hers. Hogwarts had been her home since she was twenty, but this was different. Elphinstone waited for the verdict. "Who stole this place off the market?"

"Oh. You know, there's this lawyer called Isaiah Talbot." Dropping their friend's name like it was nothing, Elphinstone grinned when she kissed him again. "I told him I wanted to bring my wife home to Scotland. You like it?"

Minerva nodded. "I love it. The horseshoe?"

"Isaiah. I guess." Elphinstone smiled when Minerva sat on the bed. She laid back, enveloped in comfort. He laughed when she suggested they invite Joshua for dinner and plopped down beside her. "You're a stepmother."

"No. Well, yes, obviously, but he's in his early twenties, I'm forty-five." Minerva held out her hand, examining her wedding band. "What're we going to do?"

"I don't know." Elphinstone hummed a Gaelic melody as they listened to the rain fall outside. He raked his fingers through her hair, taking it out of its usual bun. "Whatever we want. Imagine. We could've done this years ago."

*Neach-gaoil. It means beloved or sweetheart, a term of endearment


End file.
